In 2005, a pair of ruby red slippers worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz" was stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The slippers were recovered by the FBI in Minneapolis in 2018 after an 18-year-old mystery.
The recovered slippers are being auctioned in December 2024 by Heritage Auctions, with an estimated value of $3.5 million. The Judy Garland Museum, which has the world's largest collection of Garland and "Wizard of Oz" memorabilia, is mounting a fundraising campaign, with the help of Minnesota lawmakers ($100,000) and Governor Tim Walz, to acquire the slippers and bring them back to Garland's hometown.
There are four pairs of the ruby slippers from "The Wizard of Oz" still in existence, with the other three pairs on display at The Smithsonian, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, and in private ownership.
The auction company plans to take the slippers on an international tour before offering them for sale in December.
Sources: washingtonpost.com, nytimes.com, cbsnews.com, time.com, ravallirepublic.com, abc.net.au, thebharatexpressnews.com, headtopics.com, magicvalley.com, pinkvilla.com, bismarcktribune.com, kare11.com, playbill.com, news.yahoo.com, npr.org, insideedition.com, conservativeangle.com, austindailyherald.com, broadwayworld.com, and wnd.com.
This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.
